Never Again
by VirginaBlueBelle
Summary: Hermione reveals to Severus that he's a father eleven years after she gave birth. What happens when Severus and her husband find out? One Shot, AU & possibly OOC


**A/N: this is my first shot at a one shot story. I hope y'all enjoy it. I was reading one of my favored stories on here and this idea popped in my head so I started writing. I started it at about 9:30pm and it's now 10:58pm. so yeah read & review please ^_^  
><strong>_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter if I did...well if you've read my other stories you know what I would have done differently ^_^_

**"I'm Never Letting You Go Again."  
><strong>

"How dare you take whatever hair brained anger you have towards me out on our daughter!" Hermione yelled as she blew Severus's classroom door of the hinges. She was furious when she received his owl, notify her that one Eileen Granger would not be allowed home for the Christmas holiday due to her failing grade in potions. She was to make up the missing homework assignments during the break.

Hermione paid little mind to the sixth year Slytherin and Hufflepuffs in the classroom. Harry was running after her trying to calm her down and keep her from doing something she would later regret, but hearing his wife shouting "our daughter" at Severus had frozen him to the spot, causing Albus and Minerva to run into him. Thankfully Eileen Granger, Hermione's eleven-year-old daughter, had been far back enough that she hadn't heard her mother.

"I am not taking any anger I have towards you out on ou-" Severus's amused look at Hermione's entrance turned to shock. He turned his shocked eyes from Hermione to the girl in question that was behind the small group standing in the middle of his classroom. " CLASS DISMISSED, OUT!" He shouted at the shocked students, who quickly left. The fear of their professor stopped any of them from staying behind to hear the juicy details. "You two, in my office. NOW!" Severus turned around and entered his chambers, leading the fuming Hermione and shocked Harry into his study. Albus and Minerva hung back, keeping Eileen with them. "What do you mean 'our daughter'? I didn't even know you were pregnant! How dare you not tell me something as impor-"

"Don't give me that Professor." Hermione yelled. "It's your own damn fault you're finding out about Eileen eleven years after the fact." She stood up from the chair she had just sat in next to her husband. He was surprised to say the least. He knew that "his" daughter wasn't truly his, but he hadn't realized that it was his least favorite professor who had fathered the child.

"Mione, you need to calm down." Harry tried to placate his wife, knowing that it wouldn't take much more for Eileen to hear them through Severus's door. They hadn't yet decided when to tell her that she didn't know her birth father. He didn't want her to find out this way.

"How the bloody hell is it my fault, Granger?" Severus demanded. "How could I be there for my daughter when her own mother didn't bother to tell me?"

"Well maybe if you had come to my room that night like I requested, you would have found out! But no, you felt that going out to the pubs with Lucius was more important then your lover!" Hermione leaned over the desk, but the formidable potions master still managed to tower over her, turning her back into that seventeen-year-old student that had a madding crush on the one teacher she felt she was never good enough for. "You have no one to blame but yourself!" She shot at him, though her voice betrayed her and showed him how weak she was toward him. She was not only pushed back into feeling like a student that had brewed an easy potion incorrectly but also felt the desire to rise on her toes to snog him.

"I'll have you know Miss Granger, that I was not at the pubs with Lucius. I had actually gone to my vault at Gringotts to pull this out. I was planning on giving it to you that night, but when I got to your chambers you where gone. Your items gone, your trunk gone, no note!" He slammed the ring box holding his mothers wedding ring, down on to his desk. "So imagine my surprise when you come storming into my class accusing me of taking my anger towards you out on my daughter. Especially when her records show her as a Granger, not a Snape."

"You were going to… to ask me to marry you?" Hermione breathed out, not sure or caring if the man in front of her had heard her. Before Severus or Harry could say or do anything, Hermione turned from the desk and ran from his office. She ran past a shocked Minerva and Albus, a shocked Eileen and the many Weasley children who had come to find out why their Aunt was so mad at their feared potions master. Tears streaming down her face. She felt guilt at taking away something so precious, as his first child, from Severus, for lying to her daughter when in actuality there had never been a need. She felt even more insecure, thinking that she really wasn't good enough for the man that had given so much up to help Harry, Ron, and her during the war with Tom Riddle.

She ran from the dungeons up to the first floor, down the stairs to the courtyard, she ran past a shouting Hagrid, past Neville and Hannah Longbottom. She didn't hear or see anyone as she ran. She didn't care where she was going or who she ignored. She just knew she needed to get away. She use to go to the lake when something was worrying her or when she was feeling insecure, so she was shocked when she found herself in front of the whopping willow. She shot the freezing spell at the tree and slid down the hidden path. Walking briskly, she found herself in the room that she had watched Severus dying in. Hermione could still see the blood stain on the floor. She stood looking down at it and sobbed harder. She dropped down on her knees and buried her face in her hands and just cried and cried. She never heard Severus come in behind her. She didn't realize that she had been gone for hours and that he and Harry had spent many worried moments searching high and low in the castle for her. She was shocked when he pulled her into his arms but instead of pushing away from him, she pulled him to her. She missed his arms around her, his smell, and the security his embrace brought her.

"I'm so sorry Severus." Hermione whispered over and over. "I wish I could go back and stop myself from leaving. I wish I hadn't been such a cow-" Severus cut off her quiet apology with his lips placed on hers. He meant for it to be a reassuring kiss, something sweet but chaste. But it had been eleven years since he had tasted the sweet lips of his witch. Before he knew it, Hermione's arms had snaked around his neck, one hand tangled in his soft jet black hair, and the other held tightly onto the collar of his robes, as if she was afraid he would disappear in her arms. He deepened the kiss with every nip of his teeth, and teasing touch of his tongue to hers.

He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her flat against him, his left hand gripping her neck in a gentle caress as his right hand held tightly to her right hip.

The need for hair broke them apart, but both refused to let the other go. Severus stared into Hermione's eyes. Searching for what, he didn't know. But it seemed his heart did. "Hermione, did you name our daughter after my mother because you loved me or because you felt guilt at leaving me?" He said it as gently as he could, but he would always be the bat of the dungeons, the potion master bastard, so it came out in his snarky professors tone.

"I named her after your mother the moment I found out I was having a girl. I wanted to go to you so bad. I wanted to tell you, I wanted our daughter to have your name, but I thought you would deny it and refuse to let her take your name. By the time she was born I had married Harry and I figured you'd want nothing to do with me." Hermione rested her head on his chest. "I couldn't take it if you would reject our daughter. I could handle you rejecting me; I always expected it to end at some point, but our daughter. Severus, I don't think I could have lived with you not loving her."

Severus tilted Hermione's head up towards him, making sure he had her full attention before replying. "I would never reject you or our daughter. I never would have left you. You are my heart and soul. I want you back in my life Hermione and I want to get to know my daughter. I want a family with you Hermione. I want to see you pregnant with my children. Yes, children. I want a whole Quidditch team with you." Severus leaned down and kissed her with as much passion and love as he could. Harry and told him soon after Hermione ran out that he had filed for divorce. Hermione would understand; they had never even consummated the marriage. That she had encouraged him to continue his relationship with Draco. Harry then told Severus that he would hex Severus within an inch of his life if Severus didn't take this opportunity to claim his witch. Harry may be a dunderhead, but at least he was able to realize how much Severus's heart ached for Hermione.

"But… but what about Harry?" Hermione whispered. "We're married, and yes I know he is with Draco, but we've been married for eleven years. I don't want to hurt him."

"Miss Granger, I'll have you know your stead fast husband has filed for divorce. If I hadn't failed our daughter you would have found this out already. Harry was getting ready to push you to come to me. So please, do not worry overly much about Potter." Severus said snidely. How could she still worry about him? He thought to himself.

"But he didn't know it was you." Hermione said, her know-it-all brain going into over drive trying to figure out how Harry would have been able to push her toward him.

"He was going to hire a private detective to find Eileen's birth father." Severus explained. He told her what Harry had told him. How Harry couldn't stand seeing her so sad because she missed the one she loved so much. He went on to tell her how Harry didn't feel right keeping his daughter from finding her birth father.

"Oh Severus, I've been such a fool." Hermione wrapped her arms around her as she pulled from him and turned her back to him. She couldn't see how this powerful, amazingly caring man could ever forgive her. Severus pulled her back against him, wrapping his arms around her waist so that his hands rested open her flat stomach. "Can you ever forgive me?"

Severus felt his eyes prick with the tears that filled his eyes. He could hear just how fearful his witch was that he would not want her. He could feel how inadequate she felt just by how tense her body was against his. "There's nothing to forgive, Hermione. You did what you thought best for our daughter, I could never be angry at your for that." Severus turned her to face him as he knelt down on one knee. "But can you forgive me for not searching longer for you? Can you forgive me for not asking you to marry me those many years ago? Will you make me the happiest man by becoming my wife?"

Hermione blinked a few times to clear her vision, for more tears had filled her eyes. She didn't think she could have possibly had any more tears to cry, but there they were streaming down her cheeks. "There's nothing to forgive, Severus." She said, echoing his words. "Yes, I will marry you. I love you Severus." She whispered as he slid the heirloom onto her left ring finger.

"I love you Hermione." Severus said before kissing her. He held her close, and with a quick spin apparated them to his small house on Spinner's End. He left a note with Harry and Albus, informing them of where he and Hermione would be if they weren't there in the morning.

He had lost time to make up with his witch. That night was spent with Hermione telling Severus of all the milestones his daughter had gone through while they sat on the love seat in front of his fireplace. Her first tooth, her first steps, and her first word. Hermione reassured him that Harry was a great father figure to Eileen but was very good at making sure that he didn't make it impossible for the father to step in when he found out about her. They sat this way until dawn; they quickly changed before heading back to Hogwarts. She was shocked Severus had held onto her clothes that she had left in his chambers when they were lovers. She always figured he had burned them or just thrown them out.

Once back at Hogwarts, the couple had Eileen come down to his office. Hermione explained everything as best as she could for Eileen, but her reaction was not what Hermione expected.

"I started putting it together that Harry wasn't my dad. I look nothing like him mum. Plus his relationship with Uncle Draco made it rather clear that he may love you, but not the way a man loves a woman." Eileen turned to Severus. "Sir, I was actually going to ask you to help me find my father. I started thinking it was you when I ran across mum's journal before the school year started. And some of my housemates commented on how I looked a bit like you. I may have mum's nose and curly hair, but really nothing else is the same as her." She was the same height has her mother, five-five and she was still growing. She had a fair skin tone, almost pale, with curly hair like Hermione, but it was a soft black that made her look as if she glowed whether the sun was on her or not. Though her hair wasn't as dark as Severus's but it wasn't far off. Eileen was as skinny and rod straight as her father, but Hermione knew within the next couple of years her body would smooth out and grow curves like she had. Hermione studied her daughter, realizing that Eileen would probably top out at five-eight or five-ten, and that even though Eileen had her nose and eyes, even as she grew older she would always favor her father. In a few years there would have been no way to convince anyone that Harry was her father and Severus would have put it together himself once he saw her grow that he was her father, if Hermione had not told him herself.

The couple made sure she was okay with it, informing her that they would be getting married. That Hermione would be moving into the castle with Severus and that most likely some of the students would tease her. Even though she had been placed in Slytherin, it was likely a lot of it would come from them.

"I don't mind. As long as you promise to never leave me now that I have you." Eileen said.

Severus promised. He held her close as she walked up to him and hugged him. He hadn't expected her to be this way towards him, but he chalked it up to her taking after her mother. Hermione had told him how she had told Eileen stories about him and what he had done for the wizarding world. She wanted his daughter to know the wonders of her father, even if she hadn't known him as her father.

"Does this mean I can call you dad?" Eileen piped up.

"Unless we are in class or school is in session. Otherwise you must still call me Professor Snape or Sir." Severus replied. His daughter had shocked him again. She seemed to be taking the news a lot better then he thought possible. Soon the newfound family had lapsed into a comfortable but slow moving conversation. Eileen and Severus asking questions of each other, Hermione clarifying different points. After almost two hours, they decided to go in search of Albus, Minerva, and Harry. Hermione wanted to thank Harry for all that he had done, and let him know that she and Severus hoped that he wouldn't feel like he was not welcome to be in Eileen's life. Severus wanted to thank the Boy Who Lived for all that he had done for his witch and daughter. Hermione wanted to ask the headmaster and deputy headmistress if it was possible for her to get a job teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, since the position was still open. She wanted to be with her wizard as much as humanly possible, so working outside of the castle was not an option as far as she was concerned.

As they reached the statue guarding the entrance to the headmaster's office, Eileen turned to her mother and father. "Would it be alright if I asked the headmaster to change my last name from Granger to Snape?"

Severus and Hermione looked at each other, both thrilled beyond belief that their daughter was so excepting of everything. "Yes, if that is something you really want Ell, you may change your last name." Severus replied, taking on the use of her nickname that he'd heard Hermione use a few times that morning.

"And if you like, I'll send an owl to the Ministry to have it changed on your birth certificate, as well." Hermione held tightly to Severus's hand, she wanted to jump for joy like a little schoolgirl because everything she had ever wanted was falling into place. Eileen nodded her head and then gave the password to the statue and raced up the stairs as soon as it had moved. She couldn't wait to ask Albus to start referring to her as Miss Snape and not Miss Granger. Hermione and Severus followed at a more sedate pace. At one point Severus pulled Hermione against him and kissed her with all the love, joy, and lust he felt flowing through his veins.

"I'm never letting you go again Severus." Hermione whispered against his lips.

"I'll never let you get away again Hermione." Severus whispered back, kissing her one more time before leading the way to the headmaster's office.

**~The End~**


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